Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

In an impromptu dialogue with the clergy of Albano on August 31, Pope Benedict advised them (and all priests,) “It is not a time that is taken away from our pastoral responsibility, as it is precisely pastoral work to pray, to pray also for others … substituting others who perhaps do not know how to pray, who do not want to pray, or who do not find time to pray. Keeping this dialogue with God thus present is a pastoral work.”

Referring to those whom priests serve, His Holiness continues, “It seems to me that the faithful can sense if we are really in dialogue with God with them, drawing others into our common prayer, in communion with the sons of God, or if we are only doing something external. The fundamental element of the true ‘ars celebrandi’ is therefore this awareness, this agreement between what we do with our lips and what our heart does.”